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Poster: GerryO Date: Jan 15, 2014 8:41am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Essential AUDs

Perhaps too near and dear to me is my AUD:

https://archive.org/details/gd1970-06-04.123798.gdnrps.sonyTC124.olsen.droncit.flat.flac16

Very late to the game and "released" for the very first time early last year. "Only" a Thursday night at the Fillmore West and the band sounds really fresh. Every song is very focused without a single wasted note. Longer isn't always better. Four Pigpen vocal numbers. A really swaggering Man's World and hot Good Lovin'.

It patches up nicely and isn't a back of the room recording. My original tapes sound richer than what's currently available, but it still beats the SBD in terms of content and sound quality. There are several really nice reviews out there. Play it LOUD!

http://www.deadlistening.com/2013/03/1970-june-4-fillmore-west.html

http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/45115940108/the-grateful-dead-fillmore-west-june-4-1970

http://fuckyesgratefuldead.tumblr.com/post/50650921976/grateful-dead-june-4th-1970-fillmore-west-this

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Poster: merryjerry1 Date: Jan 18, 2014 7:48am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Essential AUDs

Yours is an excellent and important recording, GerryO. Have you considered writing a little something about it? Certainly a lot of us would be interested in hearing about how this recording came to be.

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Poster: GerryO Date: Jan 18, 2014 11:35am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Essential AUDs

Thank you for listening and responding, and since you may be the only one to read this, I'll share some of what I remember of then, now and the between.

I'd seen and taped CCR, Smokestack Lightning, Wild Honey and People a year or two earlier at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Pavilion (my first concert), using a small battery powered Westinghouse reel-to-reel recorder. Later I replaced it with a Sony 8-track recorder, that I quickly exchanged for a TC-124 cassette deck, complete with a single-point stereo microphone.

I taped the Winterland 1969-11-07 Isaac Hayes/LZ show (where a few girls were panhandling those in line asking for "spare change to see the Grateful Dead") with it, but didn't bother taking it to Altamont a few weeks later. Finally on 1970-06-04 we overcame our fears of driving in SF, Hell's Angels and the drugs in general, and gently coaxed my $500 '54 Ford pick-up to the Fillmore neighborhood to see the band named the Grateful Dead, who at the time had released four very wild looking and equally different albums, that didn't get much play on local radio, at least during normal listening hours.

Entering the SCGP had involved a crushing mad rush of people. Entering the Fillmore West involved no wait in line, a short walk up the stairs past the free apple barrel and finding your spot on the floor in front of a low stage and ultimately a few feet from the band. Just like having them at home in your living room.

The next time we visited the Fillmore West about a month later, my tape deck was confiscated at the door for the night. Early on I listened to my tapes a couple of times, but most early cassette decks had a nasty habit of eating tapes, so I stopped playing them and boxed them up, until late last year and when I contacted droncit, completely by chance.

Attending college full-time, dealing with the draft, working the the swing shift six nights a week at Del Monte during summers and doing other stuff, I never taped many other shows. Marriage and children in the 80s took care of the rest.

I still listen to versions of my own transfers and always have plans to improve on what's currently available.

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Poster: merryjerry1 Date: Jan 20, 2014 1:22am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Essential AUDs

Excellent! Thank you for your thoughtful recollection.

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Poster: Monte B Cowboy Date: Jan 19, 2014 8:34am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Essential AUDs

Gerry: your story, your efforts, and your contributions are outstanding! Your story is very important.

Here is my detailed electronics story for American History - it's very Dead-related
https://archive.org/post/1006694/more-europe-72-recording-info

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Poster: merryjerry1 Date: Jan 20, 2014 1:24am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Essential AUDs

'Excellent! Thank you for your thoughtful recollection.'

You too, Monte.